Shifting
by Nine Mice
Summary: Korra attempts peace in a chaotic world.


Headnotes: There will be some AU elements at various points in the fic, mostly centered around histories, lore, abilities or events, but I will attempt to keep every character as IC as possible.

–

Korra did not know what to think of Akatsuki, at first.

She'd been informed that it was a group of several people, but besides Pain and Konan, the only other member she'd seen was a bizarre plant-man who somehow had the ability to phase his body into hard earth and pop up in entirely random places. The first time she'd met him, he had materialized behind her with nothing but the slightest _shushing_ sound; it took Korra significant restraint to not bash his bi-colored face in.

Konan had handed her her oversized cloak and a small vial of nail polish, and her membership became official when she flashed her hand with their colored fingernails and tossed the surprisingly light fabric over her Water Tribe clothes, concealing them from view (she had a few issues with the design, though- crimson clouds on a black sky did not seem to be the most inviting for an organization that promoted peace). Afterward, Pain mentioned that he would announce her joining to the rest of the group, and that would be the last he had said anything about "the rest" to her. When she asked if she could meet "the rest" now that she was on equal rank, Konan had shook her head and informed Korra that everything would come "in due time".

Odd, but then again, this whole place was odd. A land of ninjas that functioned on an energy source they called "Chakra", and molded it via hand-seals taking form from the 12-year zodiac into a wide vary of spells and techniques that she previously thought possible only in fiction, an entire disciplined field of battle-arts they called "Jutsu". As the newcomer here, she figured that her omission was a result of her unfamiliarity with the foreign culture she was currently situated within, and she decided not to make a scene as soon as she had been initiated. Maybe there was a special waiting period before she could face her co-workers, she had to work a little by herself. Who knew? She didn't, and she didn't want problems on the first day, either.

So she sighed defeat and walked over to one of the many ledges overlooking the Hidden Rain, the actual rainfall itself lifted for the time being and sunlight streaming through low clouds that thinned to allow widening golden rays. However strange and quick her induction might have been, Akatsuki was an organization dedicated to fostering peace, as far as all three of her known comrades have made an effort to inform her. And with her being the Avatar for the very force of peace and balance, what better place for her to enact her duties than from here? She couldn't say much to oppose that. In exchange for her services, she would be given aid and guidance in a world far removed from anything she'd known before. As much as it concerned her, she would be able to perform her job while receiving very needful assistance for whatever reason she should require, a situation that held little drawbacks she could imagine.

With that first order of business done, she had expected to be sent away to these lands of far and wide, quelling chaos and maintaining peace as was her divine duty. If this world was as embroiled in conflict as several sources of varying pleasantry have led her to believe, then she was needed here, fast.

Her first report was to help monitor the Hidden Rain in Pain's absence.

Well.

–

"Pain sure has a lot of expectations for us, doesn't he." She drawls, sitting on a balcony with her face propped up on her fist, watching thick droplets of heavy rain catch onto the sharp edges of the metal roof and roll off the corner one after another. Konan shoots her an irritated look that slides away faster than the drops off the cover, and reclines back against the wall, facing the skyline. "This _is_ an important task. Lord Pain acknowledges your strength, that is why you were placed here in his absence."

Korra sighs, wearily, and extends one hand beyond the canopy and into the rainfall itself, a thin veil of water collecting in a half-dome over her arm and preventing further drops from making contact. Konan stares, intrigued. Even when having born witness to Korra's 'bending' abilities first-hand, the sheer ease and variety of her elemental techniques were still something of awe to her. One hand in the air and no effort could stop a small patch of rainfall. It took ordinary ninja several hand seals and a good application of chakra to do the same.

Korra moves her arm around for the sake of doing something, anything, and the liquid barrier follows thus. As she watched, too finding the bending more interesting to view than the rain, a small notice goes off in Konan's mind, and she concentrates on the signal, establishing a chakra connection. "_My rainfall has been forcefully interrupted, but I cannot sense anything else. What happened?" _

"_It is Korra's 'bending' again. I will speak with her about it, do not worry." _

"_Do so, It is difficult to concentrate otherwise."_

"Korra, Lord Pain requests that you do not 'bend' his rain, as it disturbs him." She informs, and Korra's mouth pulls back in a frown as she returns her arm beneath the cover, the rain resuming it's steady fall. She stays like that for a little while more, staring emptily into the horizon battered by persistent rainfall, before abruptly standing up and walking off the balcony and onto the ledge that extended into the open. "I'm going down for a bit, 'cause I can't just sit around and do nothing. If you need, just find me." She calls over her shoulder, pulling back the long sleeve of her cloak to flash the black bracelet she bore on her arm in a punctuation on her last point, and before Konan could be given a chance to complain Korra had already jumped off the ledge and airbent herself onto a steel bridge in the near distance.

Konan groaned, running a hand through her face. Yes, Korra was strong, yes, her abilities were exemplary, yes, she would make a fantastic ally, but she was also independent and highly active, the sort of type that was difficult to hold down. She wasn't _breaking_ orders, technically, as she was still monitoring the Hidden Rain, just from a more 'hands-on' approach. Pain's habit of lording over the population from the top did not sit well with her.

She looks, watching Korra make her way down the narrow path and turn to wherever, before relaxing against the wall once more.

If anything should happen, at the very least, Zetsu would be able to get in touch with her.

–

Her aim has gotten better, she thinks with a smile as she lands squarely on the bridge, setting off on a quick paced walk down the way. When she had first come to this place, Korra had found herself in possession of sudden augmented physical ability, so that a run would make her crash quickly and painfully into things, and a stamp of her foot would trap her leg in solid rock and raise the ground without any earthbending. She'd almost lost her head performing a few high-flying indoor jumps, had she not had her airbending coupled with quick reflexes, she would have been born into the next element in the cycle already.

But she was a quick learner when it came to her physical training, and she had gotten the altered timing and force of her stamina down just enough to avoid the large bruises. Why she has these skills in the first place, perhaps it was a transitional thing, changing from physical world to physical world? Most likely, considering that whenever she returned home her strength and speed reverted to normalcy as she'd always known them. Besides, it wasn't like she was complaining. Getting hurt during training was not news to her, and what was so bad about an enhanced physique, anyway? Not much once you got past the worst, she could tell you there.

She didn't exactly have an idea of where she was going, though. From the top of Pain's tower, the bridges, the streams, the ledges of the towers, everything had seemed visible and obvious, but as soon as she descended to a lower viewpoint, it all jumbled into a confused mess, dulled in a similar blueish- gray tone. Back home in Republic City, just about every building had a unique structure to it, a sense of self to stand it apart from the others; a different design, an alternate color to break monotony. Here, every tower seemed to be cast from the same mold as the ones around it, with very slight alterations in construction or accessories, and it was confusing to a point.

The was not to say she disliked it. The Hidden Rain itself was something fantastic to her- a functioning model of high industrialization, with bulky pipelines and elaborate power systems criss-crossing one another on the high sides of every far-reaching tower, imposing skyscrapers adorned by rows and rows of wires, neon signs and individual decorative alike, steel and concrete walkways planted on the banks of complex, interweaving channel systems that flowed into a massive moat which surrounded the entire village. It was as if someone had pulled the cityscape straight from the pages of a sci-fi comic, one of those pulps readily available near the cashier stands at marketplaces back in the City, except that this was certain reality.

But at the same time it had an ungainly air of repetitiveness to it. She would be able to locate her home tower, should she need to; a simple skip up a scraper and a quick look for the tallest structure positioned in the western quarter, the one with the huge, screaming faces carved onto it (_Overkill gargoyles, _she assumed), and she'd be right on the mark. But still...

_Culture shock, _she thought. She'd experienced some of it before, during her brief travels to the other countries in her home world, but with this actively _not_ being her home world she'd imagined that the sensation was magnified.

She took a deep breath and rounded a corner, pulling water off of her clothes when they got too wet.

–

"_Indeed a strange place that coward manifested. Unsurprisingly, it's full of problems."_

Raava had become more open to her since their re-bonding at Harmonic Convergence. Korra had her own ideas why, perhaps it was because of a spiritual shift in the world, perhaps it was because her past lives were gone and her relationship with the cosmic force of balance and order was as close as it was with Avatar Wan's before her, but now she could hear Raava speak on occasion, that distinctive echoing voice whisper things as a second conscience in her mind.

"_I've heard about those, too. Or do you mean more problems?"_ She responds, stopping suddenly in her steps in the middle of the downpour. She glances around quickly to see if there is anyone around her to notice this shift in behavior, but she has been walking for a while and has not seen anyone, or anything alive, really. She was thankfully alone.

_"More problems. Chaos in Heaven, to be precise. Imagine an Era of Vaatu as established by a plebeian who thinks too highly of themselves."_ Korra snorts as Raava gives a deep sigh, the echoes reverberating amongst themselves in the recesses of her skull._ "Heaven and Earth are mirrors poised at each other, Korra, the state of one is reflected in the other. Bluntly, we found ourselves more work. I will have to ask you not to use our power too much, as I will be kept busy for the time being. There is much to sort through here."_

_"I don't intend to. Well, at least not know. But I do need some way to get home, so I'm afraid I'll have to bother you for that."_ Replied Korra in a breath of good humor. Raava returns a light-hearted _'hah'_.

"That_ will not be an issue. I will be able to speak more, if you should need me. Stay strong."_ Raava whispers in finality, and the space of her mind quiets with Raava's ascent, the echoes dying down note by note. _"You too."_ Korra answers back, unknowing whether her farewell was received or not.

Raava appeared at random times, and spoke with her for random lengths. She could stay at the forefront of Korra's mind for hours, making small talk and commentary on just about anything that crossed their thoughts, or she would drop in for a short moment to deliver a short phrase, then vanish back to wherever she stayed within her. This spontaneous timing was a little unnerving, but Raava possessed a comforting stature about her that seemed to push away such minor worries effortlessly, and for that she was grateful.

But she had not spoken for a while before now. In fact, Raava had appeared very few times out of all of Korra's visits to this place, and when she did their conversation was briefer than the usual quick phrases. This was the most she had interacted with her for all of the time she was here, as short as that is.

Maybe Korra would ask her about that.

Later.

–

She'd been walking for some time, now. She'd pulled more rainwater off her clothes than she could bother tracking.

When she'd realized that there was nobody except for her on the highest level, and she'd had nowhere she could go to indulge herself in some way, she'd peered over the bridge and noted that there appeared to be significantly more people on the lower levels, maneuvering beneath whatever covers available so as to minimize the amount of droplets caught on their heavy coats. Curious, she jumped amongst the levels, cushioning provided by airbending, and suddenly found herself amongst people that shuffled by with downward cast faces and barely a word to each other, those who perked up at her arrival quickly looked away when she turned her head.

She blinked, looking around, once, twice, then picked up her heels.

–

Konan had reclined to a sit on the balcony, fitting comfortably into her cushion and grown entirely content with staring at gray rain, the thrumming of which pushed a longing for rest on the lids of her eyes. She's stirred from her half-sleep by another signal as a sharp _ping! _in her mind, and proceeds as follows.

"_I've finished. I'll be back soon." _

Konan nods, answers agreeably, and contacts Zetsu afterwards.

–

When Korra first heard the term "chakra", images of spinning disks immediately came to mind, stren throughout the body but the seven most important aligned on a vertical axis related to the spine, from the crown of the head descending to the tail bone, stringing the soul to the mind to the body circling back to the soul, funneling purest power from the cosmos into the complex networks of earth-bound nature. Memories filled with sheets of reference, life-sized mannequins and careful tutoring followed, complete lessons on the art of waterhealing and it's many nuances, for it was there that Korra had been taught these details. Here though, it seemed to adopt a different meaning, one closer to the function of chi itself rather than the churning whirlpools where it coalesced.

Chakra _was_ something similar to chi, she imagined, but ultimately different in use and substance. Whereas chi was the flowing energy that spiraled through all things and connected earth with heaven and the material world with the spiritual, chakra was an energy produced by the individual that dissipated once used up in outside sources. Apparently, it binned the power of one's soul with their stamina, and produced more of itself through said binding, collecting as in a basin to be tipped over and poured when needed. Korra did not have much of an opinion about this fact of ninja nature, as she had little more then bare-bones knowledge on the subject, but the fantastic skills that this power let their users perform was something she could marvel at, the same way they marveled at her bending.

She'd descended to the lowest levels, where the channels flowed beneath a mass overlapping of higher constructs that shut out a decent portion of the rain. Here, she was able to observe on-site one of the plainer uses of chakra, were it allowed people to walk on water as easily as on solid ground. They stepped onto the liquid like second nature and went on their way, leaving barely the tiniest ripples in their wake. She watched various figures, from children to the aged, cross the entire channel without so much as a look down. It was certainly fascinating, until she noted that she was receiving awkward glances from the surrounding people, this woman in the Akatsuki cloak that stood in one place, staring intently at random passerby. She ducked from their glances, turned away from the spot, hurrying her pace forward.

Korra was raised in a tight community, a pocket of men huddling down against the heat-robbing winds of the South Pole, where the houses were built into close circles and the intimacies of one's personal life was as good as front-page news. She'd grown knowing the greetings of the morning market, the laughter through afternoon work and the murmuring of evening settling. Camaradiere was a thing taken for granted, even in Republic City where she was first surprised to learn that the doors were kept locked in the daytime, obviously practical given the City's melting-pot status, but a far call from the fur flaps kept untethered in the doorframes of her tightly-knit village's icy houses.

But here, in the Hidden Rain, there was neither the aura of companionship nor the liveliness, people shifted by one another with barely a word of acknowledgment, faces kept down and away with whole bodies huddled under cloth. Again, practical considering the rain, but the most startling were not the drawn figures but their wholly absorbed quietness, tight lipped and collapsed on a point. These people were as gray as the buildings they lived in and the sky that gave the Hidden Rain it's name.

Was this common in ninja settlements? Before her stumble into this world, Korra had only known one breed of people whom she could call ninja- the Chi Blockers, and though they were not technically such they were certainly as the stereotypes played them- fast, silent acrobats who struck from the shadows and vanished beneath their covers. But underneath their masks they were as ordinary people as any other, she'd expect that they weren't so withdrawn on their off hours like these folk were.

The furtive glances people keep throwing her when they think she isn't looking unsettle her as well, their eyes glaze over her cloak, her face, and if they should meet her watch then they turn as if struck by the view of a fuming demon, not a quiet woman making her way down a narrow sidewalk on the edge of a channel.

"_Disturbing." _The word is a drop on the still water of her visible conscious; Raava disappears with the ripples, but it all fits in summation. She'd been in the Hidden Rain only twice prior, the first time was a mess of confusion and urgency where she was barely given time to catch her breath, the second were a few minutes of wandering that did not give her any noticeable content, and now this time- the third- was the first she was actually able to interact with the denizens, though it was quickly asserting that _interacting _was the wrong term for this event.

The liveliest she sees in her walk are a group of ninja sparring playfully on the water ahead. They assault one another with light jabs and blunt bamboo weapons that wouldn't leave more than a slight bruise, and some move back to form fast seals that raise the water around them into twisting shapes, splashing onto their hapless targets. Korra, born into the Water Tribe and a master of her art, always finds the use of water ninjutsu a spectacle to watch, the way weird hand signs could force the element into movement without a single budge of the limbs. Certainly efficient, but the lack of a bender's elemental harmony is clear when the spell ends and the water stills, one hit and it's over.

Korra was never one to sit and watch as other's trained before her. If the possibility arose, chances were high that she would find some way to squeeze herself through, as she had even squeezed into pro-bending during her first stay at Republic City. This Avatar that breathed sparking fire between her teeth did not well entertain the sidelines, as they could not contain the fervent pounding in her muscles when her will was set aflame. Something usually ended up broken. Besides, anything to get her mind off the dour mood was welcome, and as she knew, exercise was a great release.

So she raised her head and bit opportunity in the hand. "Hey! Can I join?" She asks, jogging up to the group that had stilled to stare at her in exactly the same way everyone else in this suffocatingly dreary place did. Korra tasted blood and shoved back a frown. So far, not good.

They look at her, then at each other, searching their faces as if anyone of them held answers, but each was as confused as the last. It takes a few moments and Korra doesn't leave, rather she shifts her stance a little- perhaps they consider this a sign of something, because almost instantly their eyes blind over with a flash of something _("Fear?")_, and one of the younger ones speaks up in a tense stutter, "S-sure you can, n-not a problem".

She is answered not by Korra but by the scowling glances of her companions who eat away with their irises, she visibly wilt beneath the glares. "That's great! Thanks for letting me join!" Korra quickly intercepts, because she isn't sure that they won't pounce on her with those sorts of eyes. This situation was crashing through lower and lower levels of uncomfortable in a maddening spiral, she keeps this in mind as she splashes onto the water to stand straight along the shinobi who couldn't stop focusing on her cloak. "Well?" She asks, voluntarily keeping her face and voice as easy as possible, which for Korra was already a sign of her struggle.

They hesitate on the first move, trudging around but refusing an assault. Korra keeps waiting, patiently, patiently, until her meter dries up and she takes the starting pounce, nothing more than a simple flick of her hand from within the long sleeve of her cloak. A splash of water wets one of the closer nin, and another one, as though unwound, jumps. She dodges, her training carrying her through wonderfully, and her assailant is relentless- they punch, kick and strike in furious lines and wild points, but their attempts hit only air; Korra weaves through their limbs like the tiniest creature in flight, fully in view but entirely out of reach, teasing on the currents of the slightest winds.

Another thing where chi and chakra differed, was when the ninja used their power to walk on water, they did just that- they moved their bodies normally, with the water acting as a platform. When Korra used her chi to waterbend herself on the channel, rather than walk as she usually would, she made the water carry her; from the side it looked like she was gliding across the surface, using no more exertion than to tilt her body at slight angles to change direction.

This is why the shinobi, both those who spectated and those who got involved came to a stand-still, staring at Korra's feet as she slid on top of the water like the smoothest ice, complete with all the grace and figure of an ice-skater itself. "What? Why'd you stop?" She asks, staring at their faces replenished with that confused shock, she follows their sight to her boots (_"Is it the boots? Everyone else wears those annoying sandals...")_ and back again, but surely that is not so terrible that it disturbs an entire spar...?

"How're you doing that, on the water?" Asks the one she was just engaged with, pointing down. Korra blinks, looks at her boots again, and shrugs. "Because I can. It's my special power." She explains simply, and another one from across her pipes up: "You mean your bloodline?"

"Something like that. It makes me control water, like this." She grins, and while she could no longer say that she entertained the fact now as much as she used too, it would be just as much a lie to say that she did not enjoy the occasional boast. And here, where no one has ever seen anything like her before at all... needless to say, the mere thought of faces agape in surprise at the skill of her bending, not through mastery but through simple ability to make water fly in elaborate zig-zags, conformed entirely to the will of her hand, it was a temptation easily sated.

Her arms move, the water lifts itself and spins, slowly at first, following the slow circles of Korra's first stances, then gradually builds speed and momentum, circling, circling around in swirls of thin strands, whirling around Korra like flapping scarves, climbing higher and higher around her figure. The nin jump off the channel as pillars of water rise from beneath her, bend over into clear-blue arches, knitting complex patterns into the display of the element, alive and roaring. Korra keeps up her fast pace beautifully, every motion accounted for, every spin marked and pulled, till she shifts styles and the liquid water stops, freezes into solid ice to crash and shatter and reform from the broken shards like glistening glass. In a final show, Korra bends the ice around her in a perfect dome, with a sharp forward push it bursts into thick mist, so thick that one could not see before their own face. She vanishes the mist with a single wave of her arm, and steps back, feeling quite proud of herself.

She awaits applause, awe, compliments, but is greeted with open-mouthed silence. She perks up one brow, and crosses her arms. "What? All that and not even a thanks? Come on." She scowls.

"**I am impressed." **Says a deep voice from beside her, followed by a shushing noise that she has since gotten quite acquaintanced with. Korra groans in thought.

"What do you want?" She asks Zetsu without turning towards him, leaning on one leg to the farther side. As soon as he appeared through the concrete, the others seem to take a collective step back.

"Is that your thanks to our thanks? Show's your gratitude." Replies the voice of the light half, melding offense with sarcasm.

"Really, what do you want." She puts more weight behind her words, and turns to glare into that two-tone human face with the empty irises that could only give half a smile. It was... disturbing to her, to say the least.

"**Pain's returning soon. You'd best come back, now." **Dark Zetsu does not speak it as a suggestion, but it is a few notes too short of a command, either.

Korra sighs, turning away. "Alright, I'll be there soon." She answers, and Zetsu vanishes once more, his entire body along with his Akatsuki cloak seeming to ripple in the form as he disappeared through the concrete, the trapper plant extensions on his body closing over his head. Korra inwardly shuddered.

She doesn't exactly hate Zetsu, as much as she is unnerved by his features; but she doesn't hold much respect for him, either. Like Raava, he had a penchant for appearing randomly at odd times, unlike Raava, he lacked the charisma to make his surprise visits enjoyable. But she acknowledged the fact that he had his good uses, with now being a decent example.

She turns back to the others, who watched these developments unfurl without breaking their stares. "Well... guess I gotta go. See ya." She waves half-heartedly at them, before jumping on the sidewalks and making her way back.

–

On her way to the tower, she sees a black figure with a spot of orange where the face should be out of the corner of her eye, watching her from a distance off the ledge of a nearby tower, when she turns her head to get a better look the figure vanishes from sight.

She thinks her minds playing tricks on her, at first, but when she keeps seeing the same figure over and over again, in several different spots, always focused on her and keeping to the precipice of her vision- she knows that she's being followed, and she's relieved when she doesn't particularly care; after all, she has little to hide, and she's a stranger in a land of ninjas, what does she expect?

–

"How was your trip?" Is the first thing Konan asks when Korra makes her way back up to the topmost section; Pain has not yet returned but the obvious dryness of Korra's cloak and hair is something for her to stare at while she relayed a rather brief encounter.

"...And I did some waterbending for them. They were so shocked that nobody could even say anything. It wasn't even any serious waterbending, just some twirling around."

Konan nods at first, then sharply pauses for a moment, as is snagged by a heavy thought. "You shouldn't be so keen to flaunt yourself." She replies, voice low. "You are indeed unusual. There are many who would be willing to do you ill, should they learn of you. I advise you to be more careful."

Korra stares, dumbly. Tenzin had told her similar things some time back, in his studious teacher-like way, though they were more akin to the typical morals of restraint and modesty than the heady words of warning Konan was sharing here. "But this is your own village! Don't you trust your own people?" She asks, a little taken aback.

"_Our_ people, yes. But there have been many infiltration attempts since the end of the civil war, and enemy spies are almost certainly lurking amongst the crowds. It would be best for all of us that you do not showcase your abilities until you have a better understanding of our system."

She tells her this with the breath of thick foreboding, and Korra is subtly reminded where she is, exactly. "Okay." She mutters, avoiding eye contact, honestly having nothing else to say.

She idles thereafter within the balcony until Pain arrives in short time with his mission successful, returning to his preferred lookout with arms spread, vanquishing the rain. Sunlight pours through the retreating clouds, spotting the gray village in specks of gold. Korra does not leave the tower for the rest of the day.

–

Pain has a convenient training facility built into the tower. Korra's allowed access to it, and she quickly takes advantage of that fact, spending most of her time applying her enhanced physical skills to her bending. She's dealing with the fast and powerful techniques of firebending this time, so she takes extra precaution and moves potentially flammable things out of the arena, giving herself a wide berth.

Her stances are as impeccable as they have always been since she achieved mastery of the form. Fire leaps and curls around her limbs as she dances in the heated steps of the element, twisting, kicking and punching formless globs of flame into the air, all a blurred vision of heat and light. It traces her skin, flicks off her fingers and sputters at the end of her boots, casting shades of orange-yellow onto the cold steel of the walls and floor, streaking it black in excited fervency. She skids, stops, spins her arms and the fire follows, circles of furious extravagance shimmering the air. The fire burns in sync to the tempo of her breathes, the thumping of her heart, a song as old as the dragons who first roared the lyrics with the same flames adorning the edges of their lips. She thrusts her arms into the open, fiery whips rotate as drills, lash out in all directions and curl back onto themselves to recede into puffs of dissipating energy.

Once, she's sure that she catches Zetsu's face peering out of the wall near the ceiling, seeming to be growing out of it in that spore-like way only Zetsu is capable of. She spins into the air and kicks a low-heat fireball in his general direction, the warning is taken when she sees that his visage is gone as soon as the flame vanishes. She is just as sure that he has reappeared in a safer place, farther from Korra's attention, and decides to be on the lookout for anymore sudden growths on the wall.

She pauses when there's a clatter outside the entrance to the facility, and Pain walks through the door, eying the multiple fresh scorch marks on the walls and floor as he quietly makes his way over to Korra. "Here", He says with his face turned to a rather large one on the far side, handing Korra what she immediately recognizes as a thickly packed wad of money.

"Uhh... thanks! But... why?" She questions as she drags her thumb over the crisp edges, watching the bills flip in a blurry tandem beneath her touch, before pulling out the first note from under the paper strap and examining it from all sides. Pain turns back to her, she expects that he may have found her inquiry particularly daft, but since he hardly ever emoted she couldn't be too sure.

"It is payment, for the completion of the mission." He explains. Korra raises one eyebrow as she mouthes the characters "10,000 ryo", glancing up at him through a quizzical lens. "What mission? I never went anywhere." She states flatly.

"Monitoring the Hidden Rain was an A-class mission. You completed it soundly. The Akatsuki are paid for their efforts." He says as if reading off a list, entirely devoid of emotion. Korra glances back at the cash in her hands, feels scratchy ink on her sweat-gleamed palms and knits her brows. She was not used to being monetarily rewarded for her Avatar duties, nobody had paid her for bringing down Amon during the Equalist revolution, for dispersing Vaatu at Harmonic Convergence, and she had not expected any payment at all.

Well, she did think about somehow obtaining money, per the request of her friends back home, but had not taken too much into account for actually formulating the thought. Which was yet another flash of stupidity, she realizes grimly- being sustained by the White Lotus in all financially related matters had indeed spoiled her into mostly forgoing this particular worry. She had no money before this moment. She was also sure that there was no exchange system between Ryo and Yuan.

She ends up taking the stack whole-heartedly and thanks Pain for delivering it. When he leaves, she shoves the pile into the inner pocket of her hanging cloak, and flicks a small, snapping fireball at Zetsu for a second time. She does not spot him again for the rest of her training.

–

Korra's room is small and made of the same lusterless metal as everything else, with a broad window that opened southward. She did not realize this until she had slid up the panel and leaned forward to peer at the watercolor sky of yesterday's sunset to her side, she knows it to be a subconscious decision on her part but does not feel any particular longing, for now. It has still been too little time for the homesickness to take hold, but it seems little nubs are already peeking through, and the culture shock has yet to be swallowed.

There is a bed, a nightstand with a lamp, a walk-in closet and a full body mirror attached to the wall. Modest furnishing, but Korra could not honestly say that she needed more. Here, she had few possessions and barely any reason to stay in her room apart from sleep, she was entirely content with it as is. So she hangs her cloak on a hook in the closet, traces the feel of money in one pocket and the chakra bracelet in the other and slumps onto the bed, hands beneath her head.

The ceiling is a smooth dullness marked by the sheen of her lamp, spreading light and her focus on it's surface like plaster to a mold. The day rewinds before her in snippets and moments, the solitude of the people, the shock of her bending, Konan's quiet warnings, Pain's apathetic aloofness, Zetsu and that stranger spying from close corners. Silence descends with the slowness of a sheet in parachuted flight, the weighted softness of the linen laying down to smother her. Korra had always believed total silence would be more akin to peaceful tranquility, like quiet meditative sessions layered with additional pillows of serenity. She now realizes why it was so often termed 'deafening', and this, too, is something alien, bearing down on her chest.

She quickly springs from the bed to open the window, it slides up with the creak of stale mechanisms and she has never welcomed the hush of the evening breeze as much as much as she does now, staring out at the darkening palette of the sky. The blazing glow of neon signs dotted on the towers grow sharper by the moment, and she retreats back to her bed, breathing steady. She stares again at the ceiling, but this time, she lets her focus relax and recedes backwards into the confines of her mind.

"_Hey, Raava"_

"_Hello, Korra."_

She answers her this time, and relief comes to Korra not as a wave but a funnel that drains the stagnant anxiety from her chest, lightening the linings of her throat. _"It's been a whole day here. What d'you think?"_

"_Problematic. Today made it even more apparent than it already was. The attitude of these people is not normal, judging against those back home, it delineates the presence of certain conflict." _Her voice expands and recedes in that ethereal lull only Raava can manage. Even with the hints of concern sweeping beneath her words, worry does not come forth Raava easily, and Korra does not ask for anything more.

"_Well, we're in a good place, then. I just hope we get a mission soon, so we can get more of the big picture."_ Korra replies with hopeful intentions, but then reels from the day play against her retina once more, she remembers that glisten of fear from the shinobi on the channel surface, born from a slight shift in her step. She frowns.

"_They were especially attentive to our cloak. They were clearly unsettled by it."_ Raava continues, and Korra is left to wonder whether Raava can see every mental flash Korra pulls up, watching from wherever it was that Raava did dwell within her, or if she was simply continuing her prior statement. _"This 'Akatsuki' is not as benevolent as we are lead to believe."_

"_I get that feeling too, but there's no where else for us to go. They own that 'Gedo Mazo' thing, we can't get home any other way."_

"_And it would not be in our favor to leave them, for now. But I am skeptical. I have witnessed countless humans over countless eras like them, playing the part of the benefactor to cover selfish needs. Be on alert, Korra, more so than usual. There are many things here that I am wary of."_

"_Yeah, me too. Did you notice that someone was spying on us? Not Zetsu, I mean."_

"_I have, but I also refer to that 'Pain'. He is very unusual ."_

"_It probably has to do with that 'chakra' power." _Korra dismisses.

"_No, not that. These humans have chi too, Korra, not as it flows in us, but it is there. 'Pain' has the chi of that which lacks vitality."_

"_What?"_

"_He is dead, absolutely."_

The heavy bluntness is interwoven with drawn syllables, Korra's eyes widen and she opens her mouth in an attempt to speak up, but her rebuttal does not come, forgoing her tongue and lodging itself stuck in the throat. She honestly does not know what to respond with, but she manages to croak out: _"A-are you really so sure about that?"_

"_I am not sure, this is a __**fact**__. What I __**will**__ assure you is that I am highly knowledgeable and perceptive in these matters. He is a definite zombie. That 'chakra' is what makes him function, but it does not- and cannot- conceal the nature of his chi." _Raava verifies sternly, but without anger. Korra bites her dry lip and tosses her head back onto the pillow, still mulling over what sort of answer such information could be given.

"_So what am I supposed to do, knowing this?"_ She finally conceives, her voice, even internal, sounds tired.

"_For now, nothing unexpected. We should wait and see what we could learn here, then after we have reached a certain point of knowing we can proceed with more certainty. But I urge you again, be on guard. You yourself have witnessed how different things are here."_

Korra grimaces, reaching up to rub her temple, her mind starting to ache from the cascade of warnings and cautions being spun into her memory, all of these new experiences in one day beating down on her head with hundreds of gallons of liquid stress. She flicks back to just a year ago, a budding Avatar completing her final firebending exam, passing with the flawless effort of a master. The White Lotus surrounding her in it's far-spanning flower, keeping her safe within it's sweet, quiet center from the rapids of responsibility around her, yet she, in all of her restless wonder, peers through the slits of the petals and only gazes longingly at the Avatar's romance that she is destined to tread.

Now she has broken free, and that same romance has lead her down a dry and arid road, the White Lotus far, far away, flower closed. She has nothing but the training in her limbs and the divinity in her soul, the latter of which is her sole comfort in the lonely heat of this desert. She is more grateful for Raava's company than she could ever tell her in a single lifetime, though she imagines she'll have several to do so.

"_Okay, I got you."_ Korra finally responds, then silences for a somber moment. _"Do you think it's gonna take long, fixing everything that's wrong here?"_ She asks in a hushed voice, and it is Raava's turn to go quiet. Had Korra not known the feel of her presence as a gentle yet firm press atop the crown of her head, she would have believed Raava had slipped away through the canyons of her mind again, leaving her alone.

But she realizes that Raava is thinking, and after a while she, too, begins a low whisper. _"Yes. This world has been embroiled in chaos for far too long. But that is our goal- to preserve the balance and disperse the conflict. We will uphold our values as we have always done so, from Wan's time to yours. We have succeeded this before, Korra, and we shall do it again."_

The sheer strength and certainty put behind those words trembles something deep within her, churning a fledgling of excitement and passion, and Korra gives one sharp nod. She inhales deeply, and to her surprise finds herself just a little bit lighter.

"_Thanks, Raava. Guess I needed that reminder. I'm glad you could take the time out of... whatever it is you're doing to chat a little. It's late, and I'm sure my head's gonna burst from all the things today, so... good night?" _

"_I do not sleep, but the pleasure is mine. Good-bye Korra, until next time." _And with that the firm press loosens, Raava vanishes along with her echoes and Korra is truly alone, but not bothered. A conversation with the Light Spirit could have that effect, she knew, that feeling of slight weightlessness and good mood like the caress of a warm wind in mid-spring. She sighs, turns off the lamp, and makes peace with the day.

–

Madara watches from a far railing, locked on her window even after the light goes off and the late evening descends into full nightfall, the typically dull glow of the sharingan shining sharply through the dark. Zetsu materializes beside him even quieter than usual, Madara does not bother to take notice.

"So what do you think?" The light half asks, sounding chipper for some reason. Madara says and does nothing for a short while, then speaks.

"Interesting..." He begins, leaning forward and crossing his fingers beneath his chin. "She is indeed interesting. Nagato found something worthwhile, this time. We will continue to observe her." He issues a short order, and Zetsu obediently vanishes through the metal.

He stays like that for a while more, then disappears from the rails.

–

Footnotes: And first chapter done! Thank you for reading. If you could spare a few minutes, please comment or critique about any of the writing, flow, pacing, characterization, descriptions, grammar, whether I rambled too much, whatever anybody could find the words to say about so that the product quality could be more assured next time. Until then!


End file.
